Discover Cape Town's rich cultural history: Visit Langa and be driven to the highlights of Gugulethu township in the Cape Flats, an area that since the 1950s has been home to people the apartheid government considered non-white. Visit the District Six Museum and enjoy a stroll in Langa before visiting a handicraft center, a sangoma (traditional medicine), a local market and a shebeen (tavern).
This tour takes you to some of the townships of the Cape Flats (an area of Cape Town allocated to non-white people by the apartheid government in the 1950s) and also gives you an insight into the cultural history of the city. Step back in time as you begin the tour with a visit to the District Six Museum, District 6 being a former residential area of Cape Town established in 1867. Historically, this area was home to former slaves, immigrants and merchants as well as a large number of Cape Malays brought into the country by the Dutch East Africa Company which ruled the Cape Colony at the time. It became the site of forced displacement, as the homes of its inhabitants were destroyed when it was designated as an exclusive area for whites in 1966. You will learn about the culture of the Cape Malays as you pass past brightly painted houses and down the cobbled streets of Bo-Kaap, formerly known as the Malay Quarter.
The journey continues towards the Cape Flats region, which will remind you that even in a less luxurious setting, the locals can be friendly and welcoming. Visit Cape Town's oldest township, Langa, established in 1927 as one of many areas for black Africans before apartheid, and the site of many resistance movements and protests against the apartheid government. You will have the opportunity to walk around while interacting with the predominantly Xhosa community, and learn about their culture and way of life by visiting a craft center, local market, sangoma (traditional healer), shebeen (tavern) and a local church if your trip takes place on a Sunday.
Be driven to the township of Gugulethu, established in the 1960s due to overcrowding in Langa, which was then the only black residential area in Cape Town. Inhabited by many migrant workers from the Transkei region who traveled to the Eastern Cape, this area has also seen many clashes and demonstrations against apartheid forces. You'll pass the Amy Biehl Memorial as the trip ends with a drive to Bontehuewel, a township mostly home to people of color, before returning to Cape Town's city center.
